Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1097515
62 DGA QUARTERLY to the entire crew by requiring all department heads to attend stunt rehearsals. "I don't want my cinematographer and cameramen coming to the set for a massive five- day action scene when they've never seen the fight before, going 'Well we can't do a wide shot because we can't get the lights in there,'" Stahelski explains. Stahelski also likes to use CGI as a tool for stretching in-camera action to surreal ex- tremes. "Instead of cutting to a prosthetic of an arm bending backward or a neck turning all the way around," he says, "we sometimes do digital body bending to make the martial arts more intense, wackier, more violent." He begins with a practical foundation, filming stuntmen performing in front of a green screen. "The VFX people cut and paste them into the digital world and bend their bodies even more," he says. "I like to push the limits of both practical and digital to see where they meet, but for me H A D S T A H E L S K I , who launched the John Wick franchise with co-director David Leitch in 2014 before solo directing two Wick sequels, cites old-school action classics The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen and Bul- litt as formative influences. "The level of practical effects was mind-boggling because the action felt so organic and raw," he says. A former stuntman with a background in martial arts, Stahelski believes Wick packs a punch for audiences because the lead actor, Keanu Reeves, is actually jumping the jumps and fighting the fights. "Rather than turning stuntmen into actors," he says, "we turn actors into stuntmen and train them as we would any of our professionals." Stahelski typically films long takes that sell moviegoers on a "you are here" experience. "I like to start with a wide shot and dolly in for a close because that sells you on the actor, not just the character," he says. "If you believe Keanu Reeves is really doing the fight, then you believe John Wick can do it." In close collaboration with second unit director Darrin Prescott, Stahelski extends his preparation-is-everything aesthetic it always starts with the question: How practical can we make it?" A R Y N KU S A M A , who launched her career with the 100 percent practical indie film Girl Fight (2000), has leaned into practical effects ever since directing Charlize Theron in the VFX- driven futuristic action film Æon Flux (2005). Looking back on that experience, she says, "You need a lot of patience making a big VFX movie, because it's not always a straight shot to the visual representation of what you intended versus what a concept artist or storyboard suggests. You have to imagine what the image is eventually going to look like. If the first pass or second pass or third pass doesn't work, then you have to not only negotiate with the creative side, you also have to negotiate with the financial side. Visual effects movies require a lot of faith in the process." For the $62 million, 75-day Æon Flux production, Kusama utilized previs for key sequences. "But for the most part," she recalls, "I didn't want to use previs too much. I think in some films that are heavy with visual effects, there's a sense that they can be sort of air-less because there there's no spontaneity in the filmmaking." Kusama, continues to prefer in-camera capture as her go-to mode. "I always ask to see the practical options," she says, "because, for me, nothing compares with recording something that's actually physically happening in time and space." PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS Chad Stahelski and Karyn Kusama discuss the virtues of an in-camera approach to special effects BY HUGH HART C Chad Stahelski Karyn Kusama K PHOTOS: (TOP) MARK RODGERS; (BOTTOM) EVERETT